


Flying Into History

by squidgie



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-01
Updated: 2012-11-01
Packaged: 2017-11-17 13:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/552079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidgie/pseuds/squidgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU where Rodney is a research physician and John is a pilot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Into History

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Goddess47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goddess47/gifts).



> Written in an impromptu Halloween "Trick or Treat" celebration in my LJ.

Rodney walks aimlessly away from his office, lost in his thoughts. The data he'd just read looked promising.  _Way_  too promising. And when Zelenka'd joined in, and then started shouting, Rodney'd just gotten up and wandered away.  
  
Ten minutes into his walk, he almost literally stumbles into a sandwichboard on the sidewalk. Stepping back, he reads, in big, bright font:  
  


**SKY TOURS**

**$90/HOUR**

  
  
The logo on the bottom of the sign said, ' _Floating Sheppard Tours_ ', a smaller ' _Floatplane For Hire_ ' beneath that.   
  
"Hmm... Okay," he says, considering it as he pushes other thoughts out of his brain. He  _did_  need to clear his head, and maybe a change of scenery would help that. He turns and walks the way the arrow points, determined to step away for a while.  
  
Walking up to the mini booth, Rodney finds a lanky, tanned man (as much as a Seattleite  _can_  be tanned) working a Sudoku puzzle. "Excuse me," he says.  
  
"One sec," the floppy-haired man responds, moving his pen to fill out one of the empty boxes.  
  
Rodney leans in, glancing at the puzzle. "9, 7, 4, uhh, 3, 7, and 2," he says. At the man's incredulous look, Rodney grabs a pencil and repeats the numbers, pointing to each corresponding cell as he rattles off each one.  
  
The man cuts his eyes at Rodney. With an irritated, heavy sigh, he asks, "Can I  _help_  you?"  
  
"Oh, yes." Rodney replies. "Plane ride."  
  
Putting his puzzlebook down, the man says, "Anywhere in particular?", which Rodney just responds to by pointing to the sky, saying, "Up there."  
  
~*~*~  
  
The pilot, "John Sheppard," as he introduced himself, gets Rodney strapped in, makes Rodney put on a headset, then takes off from Lake Union. Rodney'd paid for a five hour tour, but two hours into it, sinks into his thoughts instead of taking in the sights.  
  
"So what is it?" Sheppard asks.  
  
Rodney responds, but Sheppard has to remind him to key the mic so he can be heard. "What is  _what_?" he asks.  
  
"You're  _not_  a tourist, so you're not really here for the scenery. Otherwise you'd have realized that we've buzzed Husky Stadium half a dozen times. I try and watch them practice when I can." Sheppard keeps his attention to flying, but glances at Rodney as he gets the chance. Reaching over, he flicks Rodney's badge. "It's the middle of the day, and you're wearing some sort of badge, so..." John adjusts their course, avoiding an incoming medical helicopter, obviously heading to Harborview a few miles to the South.   
  
"Fred Hutch," Rodney says. He pulls the badge out, letting John read.   
  
"Doctor, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, but just research. I don't see patients much." Forgetting that not everyone knows about his line of work - even though it's a world-renowned in the medical world - he adds, "The Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center. I'm in charge of pharmacodynamics."  
  
"Okay," glancing at Rodney's badge, John says, "Rodney McKay, MD. So what's going on that you're playing hooky from work in the middle of a work day, hiring me to take you sightseeing - when you're not paying attention to the sights?"  
  
Sighing, Rodney says, "I just found a cure for cancer this morning."  
  
Pilot John turns to Rodney, ripping off his aviator sunglasses, the nose of the plane dipping to the right before he yells - then keys his mic, and yells again, "You fucking  _what_?" as he rights the plane.  
  
Gripping his seat, Rodney screams back - loud enough for John to hear through his noise canceling headphones, "Could you  _please_  not crash and kill me before my research is published?!"

~*~*~  
  
Despite Rodney's desire to stay airborne, John lands the plane back at Lake Union, Rodney refusing to get out (he was afraid John was going to make him go  _back_  to work. In the short time he'd known the pilot, he'd figured out the man could be nearly as bossy as he could) until John promised him cheese fries from one of the local foodtrucks. John settles Rodney onto a bench on one of the lake's piers, disappears to get some food, then shows back up.  
  
As John sets the fried treats between them, Rodney cocks his head and asks, "Why do you care?"  
  
" _Why do I care_?" John asks. "You've fucking cured  _cancer_.  _That's_  why I care."  
  
"Well," Rodney says, "Not  _all_  cancers. At least not at first. But at least the blood types. Leukemia, Myeloma, Lymphoma... But-" Rodney stops, suddenly lost in memories of his distant past.  
  
A few minutes later, John quietly says, "My mom," Rodney nodding, understanding in an instant.  
  
"My sister; Jeannie. When she was eight," Rodney replies.  
  
The pair sit silently, gently swaying at the swells moving the dock, just letting the time pass.  
  
Standing, Rodney says, "Well, I think I should probably go back."  
  
"Yeah," John says, nodding.  
  
"Thanks." Rodney returns the nod, then starts walking back to his office. Just as he starts to press the "WALK" button at the intersection, he hears John calling his name and jogging up behind him.  
  
"Doctor McKay," John calls.  
  
"Rodney. Call me Rodney," he replies.  
  
"You know... You  _still_  have two and a half hours left on your flight." John hands Rodney his businesscard.  
  
"I do, don't I?" Rodney asks. He studies the card before putting it in his pocket.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Two years later, Rodney is on a plane, John once again at his side. But this time they're both passengers, on a private plane jetting to Stockholm. Rodney's gazing out the window into the dark, starry sky, broken out of his memories when John takes his hand. "What're you thinking about?" John asks.  
  
"Nothing," Rodney lies. The memory of Jeannie had weighed heavily on him since the announcement and subsequent proof of his cure.  
  
Bringing Rodney's hand up, John delicately places a kiss on the back of Rodney's hand and says, "She'd be proud of you, you know?"  
  
With a melancholy smile, Rodney leans over to claim a kiss from his partner, and says, "Yeah. Yeah, she would..."


End file.
